About those Spirals…

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drawing spirals, painting spirals, Spirals, whirlpools

Nicolas critiques the energy of the swirl…

Inspired by an artifact in Casa del Alabado/Quito Ecuador

Creative Ops with Corn – Feed the Birds!

“We are not going in circles, we are going upwards. The path is a spiral; we have already climbed many steps.” -Hermann Hesse

The spiral design is one we’ve all drawn or doodled at one time or another.  When I share with others the joy of drawing, we often start with drawing ‘tornadoes’ – a repetitive round and round and round type motion that helps us adjust to the pencil as well as slowing down our thoughts in an almost-hypnotic approach.   After going around and round countless times, it’s almost effortless to then – with the same light touch –  draw an ellipse.

Many times I find myself drawing spirals in that same easy-going style; not thinking of anything, I draw those flowing lines that spiral from outside to in – or inside to out. It’s like a form of meditation – no thought involved, just relaxed and soothing lines, a bit like watching a ballet or tapping into the natural flow of music.  Sometimes a second set of lines wraps inside the other.  There are times when my mood or life is less relaxed, and the fluid movements are replaced by geometric grids and cross hatching, as if my internal computer is analyzing every pixel while searching for the ones that need attention! 

Ecuadorian Birds – Name that Bird!

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A Little Blue Bird Told Me, Ecuador Birds, Identifying Neotropical Birds, Property for Sale near Mindo Ecuador

 

Reference material for the female racket-tail hummingbird doesn’t show a racket ‘tail,’ and the male doesn’t have the white breast… Thanks in advance for a proper ID!   When illustrated reference books seem lacking for details,  I often check Nick Athanas’ Antpitta site.. Check out his magnificent portraits of Neotropical birds.  (Antpitta.com – Booted Racket-tailed Hummingbird)

While updating the bird list for the property, I was pleased to count over 90 species of birds – and the ones that live on the other 95 hectares are still unrecorded!

Calling all birders – can you help with identification for any of these UFBS – Unidentified Flying Birds?    I will be offline until next week but look forward to your feedback.

Let’s look at those birds!

Timeout for Art: Painting for the Joy of Painting!

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Handpainted floors, Timeout for Art

 

“Yes, I’ve made a great deal of dough from my fiction, but I never set a single word down on paper with the thought of being paid for it … I have written because it fulfilled me … I did it for the buzz. I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever.”

Stephen King

I’ve spent months painting the floors where I live, and I often chuckle and say, “I spent X-amount of time on a painting I can never sell!” That’s OK, because working out the design, the correct proportions and building layers of colors are all important challenges, and I learn what works and what does not work.

Timeout for Art: Living a Life

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hand-painted floors, Timeout for Art - Living a LIfe, what to do with ugly office space

I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living. (Robert Henri)
Reaching far back into childhood memories, I fondly recall a fishing moment with my sister Helen. Eight years older than I, she was the master fisherwoman, and I was the novice.  In order to secure the john boat against the outgoing current of an oxbow lake, she leaped from the bow of the boat to the muddy bank where the oxbow lake joined the Mighty Mississippi River. Instantly, her feet and lower legs vanished into the icky muddy bank.

She didn’t chuckle. She laughed. An uninhibited belly laugh emerged from her soul as she attempted to pull her feet from the muck!

Would you care to guess what this moment was about?  (I helped him un-stick the electrical tape!)

I often find myself knee deep in surprise moments here in Ecuador, and following Helen’s example, I try to embrace those experiences. Trading the quiet backdrop of the river for a forlorn third-floor fixer-upper in the middle of town, I’ve been busy living a life while making a living this past week!

Timeout for Art: Blocks

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Drawing, magic carpet, Painting, Timeout for Art Blocks

A simple line drawing, photographed (gray) and converted to black and gray.

“When I can’t paint, I can draw, and this simple but very powerful tool gets me back to the very door of creativity.”  (Pat Corbin Henson)

Sometimes when I find myself going ’round in circles, I look through my archives and play with the designs waiting in limbo.   Rolling this drawing into a ‘bronze’ application on Irfanview provided a much-richer work of art with zero effort!

After tossing around options on the computer, I am usually eager to return to my pencil, which in turn preps me to return to my paints!

Timeout for Art – No Rehearsals

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art by Lisa Brunetti, concrete floors, Energy before a storm, old furniture makeover, porch balcony projects, Timeout for ARt No Rehearsals

Picture perfect afternoon! Surely the skies will be clear for days?

Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless. When you find something at which you are talented, you do it – whatever it is – until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. (Stephen King)

As if to compensate for the most-recent 2-day power outage,  a burst of energy kept me working at full throttle for the past several days.  After painting touch ups on the wooden balcony floor, I protected it with two coats of a transparent sealer.   Between coats, I painted the inside panels of the balcony white, then rolled a medium to light blue and then a lighter blue over that.

The little built-in bench looked quite anemic beneath the colorful moon window, so i painted the back a pastel orange and the seat area in light blue/green colors.    As the afternoon progressed, I added more depth and movement with strokes of color.

This Week’s Window Views!

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hand-painted floors, Views from a window, Views of the River from a window, WordPress Photo Challenge Windows

My my my!  Views from my windows this week reveal society in the front and side views!   Because the large boulders are unstable, I sometimes fear for the safety of the fishermen.  Last week a sense of foreboding washed over me when I saw three young boys fishing from the rocks.  I insisted that they leave, and that night, the rocks fell from that very spot!  The next day slightly-older fishermen were there, and one refused to leave.  Sigh.

Rocks that fell the night before…

Views from my windows also revealed a large orange surprise that might offer another explanation for power outages!  This orange surprise will be working here for a few weeks.

The orange tree-gobbling monster also has a tag-along work crew:

Timeout for Art: Magic Swirls

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art by Lisa Brunetti, painting old wooden floors, the magic of spirals, the magic of swirls, Timeout for ARt: Magic Swirls

“Magic swirls about us like an invisible fog of energy that can be tapped by those gifted enough, using a variety of techniques that center on layered spelling, mumbled incantations, and a burst of concentrated thought channeled through the index fingers. The technical name for this energy is “variable electro-gravitational mutable subatomic force,” which doesn’t mean anything at all–confused scientists just gave it an important-sounding name so as not to lose face. The usual term is “wizidrical energy,” or simply “the crackle.”
Jasper Fforde, The Song of the Quarkbeast

Those who know me well will agree; there are times when magic seems to swirl around me like an invisible fog of energy!  As I’ve mentioned before, batteries in watches usually self destruct within weeks;  elevators and copy machines sometimes malfunction when I punch the buttons.  Electric car windows stop working.  Sometimes street lights flicker off or on when I walk beneath them.

Magic Carpet Airlift!

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imaginary escapes, magic carpet ride, what to do for cabin fever, winter storm jan 2014

Applying magic to the fibers of the carpet!

Tropical drinks for everyone!

Zeebra Surprises

With the cold weather sweeping across the Northern Hemisphere, I wish that I could fly you to the tropics or somewhere – anywhere other than where you’re cold and miserable and enduring brutally-extreme temperatures. Galleriaredelius’ brilliant mind of a jewelry maker commented on yesterday’s post: “As for the music, how about this new interpretation of Fly me to the moon, by Anna Ternheim”

I wish that I could fly you to the moon, but my budget will not allow that kind of extravagance! I can, however, take you on a cyber-reality magic carpet ride!  After all of the hard work and suffering that Barb sacrificed to help paint magic dust into this work of art, it needs a checkout flight at least every six months… and it’s been six months since the last one!

What? No pizza?!

Connections are slow, so there won’t be a Rescue Command Center to coordinate emergency airlift itineraries to any of you who are snowbound and have cabin fever.   The Magic Carpet is undergoing preflight tests and will soon be making a round-the-world swoop!

Timeout for Art: Total Immersion in Color!

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paintings by lisa brunetti, quotes by van gogh, stress during holidays, taking time for yourself, Timeout for Art - Immersion in Color

“As you can see, I am immersing myself in color—I’ve held back from that until now; and I don’t regret it.” (Vincent van Gogh)

December often crams our lives with tasks and obligations that prevent us from taking a timeout for ourselves. We dart and dash from home to work to social gatherings and events, and we return home to unfinished tasks. Which balls do we drop while juggling too many, and what triggers us to throw on brakes and claim a timeout for ourselves?

El Matal Ecuiador – having fun with color!

Although my life is fairly uncomplicated, the past few weeks have kept me rolling with little time for art. Even though hurried, I am always calmed and grounded even if I only have ten minutes to apply a bit more color to a painting before dashing out the door. I am instantly focused and grateful that I have found an outlet that grounds me in hurried times.